Thread by @IndivisibleSF

If you want to give public comment on one of the earlier presentations (or on the AAO and ASO themselves), you should call in now: tel:[phone],,1460343108##

The time to raise your hand will come fairly soon (but not yet). #SFBudgetAppsCom

Aaaaaand we're back. #SFBudgetAppsCom

They're going to take the commenters who need interpretive services first because the interpreters will no longer be available after 10 PM, so they're asking commenters who don't to hold off on raising their hands. #SFBudgetAppsCom

66 listeners, 24 in the queue. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Vice Chair Walton says 1 minute. Also says “an entire day of comment time on the budget next week.” #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller from Roadmap to Peace thanks them all for their time and work on the budget.

Talks about the importance of doing their diligence on reducing JPD. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller from Senior and Disability Action and the Budget Justice Coalition asks them to “commit to equity in a real way” and “fund social services that will keep us safe and defund the Police Department.” Says POL has increased by 70% over the past 12 years. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Same caller: “Can you imagine if we had invested in housing, transportation, education, and childcare instead?” #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller from the Deputy Sheriff's Association advocates for moving Airport policing to the Sheriff's Department. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller is concerned by the economy and the COVID crisis. Accuses people calling to #DefundThePolice of a “mob mentality;” says the police are underfunded. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller was an instructor at County Jail #5, says SFPD “responds to the whims of the wealthy” and harasses everyone else.

“The existing system for complaints against officers is designed to protect the police, not the public.” Calls for a database of complaints. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller says police reform has failed. “Our tax dollars must be invested in evidence-based safety.” #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller objects to comment being cut to 1 minute.

Also apologizes for “whatever happened to Sandra Fewer; she's a real lady.” #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller: “Chief Scott, here's something new: Your Department punishes people. So if you feel like people want the cops to be punished: Yeah! We do!” #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller from D1 urges the #SFBudgetAppsCom to reject this proposed budget.

Says it's misleading to say we're defunding the police when we're actually increasing POL next year. Brings up DAT being cut to 2015 levels; suggests doing that to POL instead. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller who's an engineer for DPW advocates considering “frontline workers” in the budget and drawing on funding reserves. Notes that City workers have already agreed to defer raises. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller from @seiu1021 says the mayor's proposal doesn't account for cost of living in the City. Urges protecting COLA for City workers rather than the mayor's threat of layoffs. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller objects to the minimal cuts to POL when the country is reckoning with the role of police. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller suggests that if you want to see what life is like without the police, go to Pac Heights.

Suggests cutting $300 million from POL as a step toward abolition. “Anything less is an insult.” #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller advocates cutting the positions of SROs, on the grounds that it does not make schools safer but feeds the school-to-prison pipeline. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller from the Mission asks the #SFBudgetAppsCom to reject the budget and “significantly #DefundThePolice.”

Contrasts the minor cuts to POL and SHF with bigger cuts to LIB, WOM, and other service departments. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller from the SF Women's Political Committee encourages defunding SFPD. Particularly cutting OT and redirecting those funds to organizations in Black and Brown communities, especially women-led orgs. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Another caller echoing earlier callers objecting to POL taking less than 3% in cuts. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller grew up in a small town in Texas and was arrested at ten years old. Moved to the City ten years ago. Says cops look them up and down while they're in their own garage or walking on the street. Demands the #SFBudgetAppsCom #DefundThePolice.

Caller refers to a previous meeting where commenters kept the Supervisors up past midnight. Supervisors said they heard us. “If you heard us, then you will defund, disarm, and disband the SFPD.” #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller: “I work in criminal law and I know for a fact that most officers are bullies and thugs…” Urges “drastic changes” away from “criminaliz[ing] being poor.” #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller says Chief Scott thinks some officers would be better at a desk than out in the world with a badge in a gun; questions the false dichotomy.

Says it's not “punishment” (as the Chief) had said; it's “transformative justice.” #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller says the proposed budget would give POL and SHF $1 billion total and urges the Supervisors to reject it in favor of “housing, healthcare, and reparations, not cops and cages.” #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller urges the #SFBudgetAppsCom “to have the courage and imagination to do what's needed here.” Demands a budget that fires SFPD officers. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller says “We are all safer when everyone has what they need. … Fully funding these programs will make our communities safer than we have ever allowed ourselves to be because we give police the benefit of the doubt…” #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller: “Fire the police, fire the sheriffs, refund our communities.”

“Why is the library being cut more than SFPD? Do we want a society with educated children or do we want to lock up poor people?”

#SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller disagrees with Sup. Fewer that we need replacements for policing programs. Suggests cutting SROs outright.

Also, “We don't need deputies at the SF General [Hospital].” #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller says that when the mayor cuts more from the library and from schools than the PD, and negotiates with POA to maintain their comp levels, she makes her values clear. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller: “We need a budget that divests from harm and invests in healing.”

Says decades of reform efforts have failed because “SFPD has no incentive to do so.” #SFBudgetAppsCom

Another caller emphasizes that reductions of staffing must be part of cuts to POL and SHF.

“For just over half the SFPD budget, we could house every single unhoused person in San Francisco” with money left over. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller says “I'm a white man, and I've never had a positive interaction” with police, and says his daughter will have an even worse experience since she's Black. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller says our education spending per capita is half of some other places. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller urges the Board to “reflect what the people want and not listen to the mayor” and #DefundThePolice. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller objects to “token $18 million cuts” (to POL, it sounds like).

Cites Prof. Angela Davis on the nature of prison abolition as antiracism. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller is tired of witnessing and reading medical reports of police brutality. Not interested in “police doing more with less; we need less cops, period.” #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller from SF chapter of ACLU calls for “reallocating resources into housing, healthcare, and other public infrastructure that provides real public safety.” #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller says “it's stuck in my brain that we're proposing to cut more from the library than the police.”

“If we're serious about” listening to protesters, then we need to talk about cutting a quarter of a third from the police, at least. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Same caller thanks the Clerk and SFGovTV for enabling us to see the Supervisors during public comment (which had been a recurring sore point that they would cut to a title card during comment). #SFBudgetAppsCom

First “defend the police” caller of the night. Says “police aren't anti-Black; they're anti-crime.” #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller thanks Preston and Ronen for questioning the accounting that produced the $120 million claim from the Mayor’s office.

Plugs @DefundSFPDnow's list of suggested cuts, and asks the Clerk to regularly inform folks of the length of the queue. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Clerk says there are 135 people in the public comment queue. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller reminds the #SFBudgetAppsCom that “you work for us;” notes that racial disparities in arrest and search rates are caused by racial disparities in police deployment.

Says Chief Scott “wants a pat on the back” for car break-ins being down. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller suggests not fully defunding the police department, but holding officers accountable.

Wants monies reinvested into the Black community, and responsibilities moved out of SFPD. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller demands to eliminate interactions between police and communities, and invest in housing, educations, CBOs and reparations. #SFBudgetAppsCom

MegaBlackSF (megablacksf.org) activist calling in support of taking money from SFPD budget and reallocating it to the black communities. Demands serious commitment to addressing disparities in the Black community. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Currently there are 82 callers in the queue, 128 callers listening. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller says they are exhausted. Tired of explaining why we have to defund SFPD. "There are black femmes that have been dreaming of what a police-free state will look like". #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller says employees of the city have made sacrifices during the pandemic. Concerned that cost of living raises have been put on hold - city employers who are front line people, POC and women. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Several callers echo call to defund the police, and invest in communities. We're not tweeting every single one. This caller is from a CBO and supports that call as well. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller says policing in public schools targets black and brown students, does not make schools safer, fuels school-to-prison pipeline. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller thanks Chief Scott for noting that his evidence that more cops = less crime is anecdotal. Says that education budget in SF is less than half of other cities while police budget is on par. Supports call to defund SFPD @SFBudgetAppsCom

If you want to give public comment, you should call in now: tel:[phone],,1460343108##
#SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller: I don't want the taxes I make as an educator used to fund police who will arrest my neighbor. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Several callers with the demand to defund SFPD by half, firing deputies and reinvesting into communities. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller: given that only 5% of police responses are to violent crimes, it is logical that we civilianize the other 95%. Disputes Sup Fewer's claim that Supes Preston and Ronen was out of line with their questioning. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Another caller: Chief Scott says reform will take time but we've seen decades of it and it's not working. For the Sheriff's dept, if they agree that they're not helpful in mental health situations, why do they need a budget that's so big? #SFBudgetAppsCom

This hearing has now been going for 12 hours, and counting! #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller says that a previous caller who made racist comments is what you get when you criminalize Black life.

“Fire cops, give people homes, get your shit together so we don't have to wait until we replace you to get justice.” #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller: “I think that the police are unsafe, they are unjust, they are dangerous in our communities and they bring the violence.”

Finishes their comment by playing rap into the phone. (Your friendly live-tweeter doesn't recognize the song, unfortunately.) #SFBudgetAppsCom

Currently there are 105 callers listening and 63 in the queue #SFBudgetAppsCom

Another caller wondering why the library is getting more cuts than the SFPD. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller says over the years the SFPD has made little to no progress, decades of reform have failed - 76% use of force in the last quarter of 2019 were against people of color. #SFBudgetAppsCom

More callers with the demand to Defund, disarm, disband SFPD. @DefundSFPDnow has provided the playbook for making public comment to this meeting here: docs.google.com/document/d/12q…

Caller: It's 10pm on a Friday. Supervisors, listen to the people. #BlackLivesMatter. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller directly to the police chief: I'm glad you say that the budget cuts are punitive and I have no compunction in saying they are. Says that this is only fair after how police treat the black and brown community #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller: a budget is a moral budget. Mass incarceration is not moral. Criminalizing poverty is not moral. We must invest in things that are moral. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller: Chief Scott says budget cuts are punishment. Should we talk about how the police punished Alex Nieto and Mario Woods? #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller: as a Black health providers, i know too well the harm that Sheriff's deputies do to Black patients. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Currently there are 94 callers listening and 51 in the queue. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller: electronic monitoring is responsible for increasing in Sheriff's budget. Surveillance is not an alternative to policing. We should not be surveilling communities of color. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller: if the SFPD is spending $20million on misconduct, then yeah, it's budget should be cut. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Several more callers echoing demand to defund, disarm and disband SFPD and Sheriffs. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller has witnessed harassment and has been harassed by SFPD. What power does the BoS have if the budget is made by the Mayor and the racist POA before closed doors. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller: Sup. Mandelman - I voted for you and you betrayed me, so I'm directing my comment to [the other Supes]. Echoes demands to meaningfully reduce police interactions with the community by firing them. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller: I hate that the City's actual values are hidden in line items in the budget than nobody can understand. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller: looking to Sup. Mandelman to vote against this budget. Says it's ridiculous that in such a wealthy city there are so many unhoused people and yet police still overfunded. She will run against Mandelman herself if he doesn't defund police. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller expresses concern about 1 minute time limit. Many ppl listened to budget issues for the whole day and listening to petty fights - and then to give constituents 1 min per person is insulting. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller says it will be a great day when schools have a surplus of educational supplies, and the police have to hold a bake sale to buy the bullets they kill us with. There are no signs in windows to defund teachers. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller says that SFPD did nothing to stop an attack on an unhoused man. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller: Reformed SFPD killed Mario Woods, stop and search Black people #SFBudgetAppsCom

Several more callers echoing the demand to defund, disarm and disband the police and sheriffs. Many callers are outraged to cuts for teachers and library. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller says that San Franciscans aware that budget cuts only 2.6% from police budget, which is inadequate. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller said that she was tackled by SFPD at a protest and they broke her tooth. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller says that other callers are blaming police for the world's woes. Says if mostly black and brown people are in jail it must be for serious crimes. Calls for defending the police. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Several callers echoing demand to defund, disarm, disband the police and sheriffs. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller telling people to push *3 if they're not sure if their hand has been raised. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller says the only reason Supes say they don't hear ppl asking to defund SFPD is because they're not listening. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller concerned about Sheriff's presence at the General Hospital - dangerous and not conducive to healing space they aim to have. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller thanks Sup. Preston for calling out that Mayor's claims that purported $120 million cut to SFPD budget is misleading. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Callers bringing up scandal of Mayor texting SFPD to remove homeless people while she was having lunch referring to this - sfexaminer.com/news/texts-sho… #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller was trying to ask if Supes are still listening. Sup. Ronen did a thumbs up to show she was. #SFBudgetAppsCom

More callers echoing demands to defund, disarm and disband SFPD and sheriffs. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller who works with immigrants who have been caught up in legal system, highlights impact of joint task forces when SFPD partners with govt to prosecute and deport immigrants. This harms youth in tenderloin who were trafficked after escaping their situations. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Currently 79 callers listening and 34 in the queue. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller says saw people shoplifting, almost 40% increase in burglaries. People leaving San Francisco. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller says PR blitz saying that SF is reimagining policing is a shameful lie. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller: when we say Black Lives Matter, then we need to divest from violent systems such as the police and invest in people #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller who says they're a third-generation San Franciscan. Talks about an active shooter incident; also says they witnessed a man wielding a machete and police defusing that situation.

Says “police lives matter” and “God said all lives matter.” #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller talks about bold positions like support for same-sex marriage. Points out that back when abolitionists were fighting to end slavery, there were reformists looking to make slavery “gentler.”

Calls on the #SFBudgetAppsCom to have “political imagination.”

Caller says cops in the Western Addition had no concern for people's lives; they only contributed to the school-to-prison pipeline. Says teachers and social workers were the people helping keep people safe. #SFBudgetAppsCom

78 callers listening and 65 in the queue, if we heard that correctly. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller asks if the #SFBudgetAppsCom have been to Sunnydale. Says there's glass on the floor. Calls on Sup. Ronen to “do something for the people”.

Clerk reminds callers to address the whole #SFBudgetAppsCom, not individual Supervisors.

Caller says “if we don't get a raise, we won't be able to live.” Suggests a separate hearing in which only City employees are invited to give comment. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller from Budget Justice Coalition thanks Sup. Fewer for canceling Academies, Sup. Ronen for …

And then the Clerk interrupts the caller and reminds them not to address Supes.

Caller suggests cutting the field operations division of the Sheriff's Department. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller who works in the Tenderloin doesn't fear unhoused neighbors, but fears for them. Mentions an incident in which cops played loud sounds at them during a roust. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller asks the #SFBudgetAppsCom to consider that City workers have been working on the front lines and shouldn't have to choose between raises and layoffs.

Says their raise was already delayed. They commute from Vallejo. #SFBudgetAppsCom

62 callers listening, 25 in the queue. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller says they were excited when they heard the mayor announce cuts to police and redirection to the Black community, but disappointed when it turned out to be a false promise. Urges the #SFBudgetAppsCom to actually defund the police and reinvest in the Black community.

Caller plugs a @DefundSFPDnow action on Tuesday, August 18. Encourages listeners to hit the streets. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Here's the #BlackLivesMatter “posters” that people have been referencing: abc7news.com/black-lives-ma…

The original discussion at the #SFPoliceCommission was of posters, though they ultimately did metal signs. #SFBudgetAppsCom

“Hunger is violence. Lack of healthcare is violence. Racism is violence.”

“Police don't make us safer. We make us safer. Invest in us.” #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller: “As a community, we have done more for our safety than the police.” Talks about a community fridge in the Mission, contrasted with police showing up in riot gear against one person. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller says police misconduct settlements needs to come specifically from the POL budget. Closes by urging the #SFBudgetAppsCom to #DefundThePolice.

Caller: “How many more hours of public comment do you need to sit through to take us seriously?” #SFBudgetAppsCom

Same caller: “If we continue to be unheard, look forward to more late-night meetings.” #SFBudgetAppsCom

Pretty sure the dissenting caller who just spoke has been the same person like three or four times now. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller: “This proposed budget does not reallocate enough funding from law enforcement” to social services. “I would like to see those changes made to this budget before it's passed.” #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller calls out Chief Scott saying the #DefundThePolice callers are making that demand “just because”. Says the POL budget “has been presented in a way that obfuscates its lack of cuts”; accuses the Chief of derailing. #SFBudgetAppsCom

46 callers listening; 10 in the queue. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller: “GOOD MORNING, SUPERVISORS!” #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller cites MegaBlackSF's calls for reinvestment in the Black community, including in education. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller who's worked in Animal Control and now works in Adult Probation says “not everyone wants you to defund the police.” #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller questions the Chief's claims of “savings.” “That does not equal *cuts* to the budget.” Says there was only $18 million or 2.6% in cuts to POL, while other City workers are calling in saying they can't get their raises.

“SFPD is non-essential.” #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller asks that the budget include firing SFPD officers this year. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller in the Public Defender's office who's in @seiu1021 talks about the work they've been doing. Says it's not fair to ask them to give up their delayed raises altogether “when there are City reserves that can be used.” #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller: “Violence and criminalization only perpetuates violence and criminalization.” #SFBudgetAppsCom

Caller plugs @JackieFielder_, who's running to replace Sen. Wiener. Urges voting out “politicians who refuse to take action against the police.” #SFBudgetAppsCom

Multiple Black callers have talked about their experiences as Black San Franciscans being terrorized by police and witnessing police violence. #SFBudgetAppsCom

The queue is exhausted—public comment is now closed.

They continue the items to August 19. #SFBudgetAppsCom

Thanks for following along with another #SFBudgetAppsCom live-tweet!

If you're interested in a much shorter Zoom call and more ways to get involved, our General Meeting is (checks clock) tomorrow, at 1 PM: zoom.us/meeting/regist…

We have to appreciate the card they put up after the meeting adjourned. “Can't get enough of the #SFBudgetAppsCom?” You know it!